Real Time Job Costing

A key strength of M-Power is the factory floor job costing system. This gives you instant feedback on the true costing of jobs and where they are in the production process. More importantly it provides a manager with an understanding of which jobs are profitable over period of time and which processes are deviating quote estimates

The system is simple. All work instructions are bar-coded and factory floor staff scan these bar-codes for each task they do and the materials they use. The scanning process is fast and unobtrusive. This system provides a constant stream of data that plays the following role:

Updates work-in-progress with the current activity and status of a job.

Provides a system that prompts staff with checklists on the shop floor. Often staff don't read work instructions however the system forces them to answer a series of checklist items that you define. It then records their response.

Updates inventory records in real time.

Removes jobs from work-in-progress when they are dispatched without manual intervention.

Provides Clock-on and Clock-off reports for payroll purposes.

Allows managers to know exactly what individual staff are working on at any time.

This information is critical for continuous improvement and allows managers to truly have a 'finger on the pulse' of the company.

Using Costing Data

This costing information can used in many ways, for instance:

To determine the correct charge-out rate for your factory.

To monitor trends in labour productivity.

To determine which product lines, industries & classifications are most profitable for the compan.

To determine which processes are causing quote estimates to vary from actual timings.

To determine the payback period on prospective machine investments.

To provide benchmarks and trends for process improvement innovations like lean manufacturing.